LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Oklahoma State was in first place all three rounds and Purdue rallied from a first-round fifth-place finish as the Cowboys and Boilermakers finished as co-champions at the NCAA Central Regional Championships at Pleasant Valley Country Club.

Purdue shot 290-279-296-865, while OSU recorded 287-281-297-865.

Purdue's Lee Williamson was the top individual, carding 70-67-72 for a seven-under par 209.

Williamson's birdie on his final hole sealed the first-place tie for Purdue.

"I had no idea we needed that birdie," said Williamson, a senior from Crawfordsville, Ind. "If I would have known, maybe I would have done the same thing, but maybe it's best that I didn't know."

Bret Guetz of TCU, who led after shooting a four-under 68 on the first round, tied with Williamson's teammate Chris Mayson for second place.

"On Friday, I was struggling off the tee, so I was happy shooting a 72," said Guetz, a senior from Littleton, Colo. "Today, the course was brutally tough, but I was able to play solid. I hit a lot of pars. The wind made this one of the toughest rounds I've played in a quite a while. And the pins were all tucked today."

The top 10 teams from each of three regional tournaments across the country advance to the NCAA National Golf Championships in Columbus, Ohio.

The regional co-championship was a big confidence-booster for Purdue as the Boilermakers head to the nationals.

"This was a huge win after the Big 10 (Championships)," Williamson said. "We finished third after we had led all the way through. But that couldn't shake our confidence. We came in here intent on qualifying (for the national tournament)."

After shooting 287 and 281 on the first two rounds, OSU coach Mike Holder, pleased with a tie for first, was disappointed in the Cowboys' final-round 297.

"We would've liked to have played better and handled the conditions better than we did," Holder said. "We had a chance for a very good score but let things get away from us the last five holes."

Complete team and individual results can be found on the Web site of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the host school for the event, at www.ualr.edu . Hole-by-hole scoring can be found at www.golfstat.com .